I think McGuffie may have been too small. Wasn't he having problems with concussions before he transferred? I'm very curious to see how threet does at ASU. I think he is being put into a good situation there and should do well.

Sam was leaner than Mike as a Freshman. Now he is bigger at the same point in time. I think Sam played injured more because he had an young and inexperienced line in a bewildering new system and he did not yet have college level playign weight on him. I also think Sam would have been much better off with a redshirt year under the Barwis plan to get up to that safe fighting weight. (So for that matter would have Tate.)

Bottom line is we had to play Sam (and Tate) before we ordinarilly would have if we had a solid roster of upperclassmen. That coupled with the line play exposed him.

Anyway - like I talk about Notre Dame Tate, there was Notre Dame Sam (my ND homer friends were in awe of him).

It's a strange world where you wish individual ex-Wolverine players success at other schools, but Sam and Steve are two in that book for me. They put it out there for us in less than ideal circumstances, and they left in a gracious way.

Maybe by solid upperclassmen he meant "a solid roster of upperclassmen that didn't injure themselves peeling an orange or combing their hair." I am going to guess McGuffie being named starter had to do with the fact that Minor himself said he slacked off a little his Junior year and also the fact that he couldn't carry or stiff arm with the injured wrist he had. I think Brown was trying to work with an injured groin (or maybe that was last year) also, so to say they were the solid roster of upperclassmen is a bit misleading. Those two would have made up a solid roster of upperclassmen had they stayed healthy enough to play.

That may be listed but he appeared no way near the weight on the field-probably exagerated like most of those numbers are. combine that with his running straight up style, he ran with little power and was pulled down constantly with arm tackles. Good luck, but good riddance

I'm curious what makes you both say Sam would have done well. I just finished watching the 2008 Wisco game and it looks like he just got knocked around like a pinball out there. Plus with the concussions (was it 2?) he got in his freshman year wouldn't have made him fragile going forward? I don't really mean in comparison to the others, I just mean in general.

I agree that he sometimes looked like a pinball (with low YAC), but I thought he was very good "in space." Putting him at the slot position would allow him to do his Wes Welker thing. He seemed to have good hands and receiver skills, too, based on a few longer routes.

I dont see any as a big loss. I dont think McGuffie had the combination of build, durability, and elusiveness to make it in the Big 10. Yeah I know he left for family reasons, but I think he was effectively done before that.

None of those hurt us that much, I don't think. Threet and McGuffie are the only two key players, and neither left at a time we needed them. Threet was here for the only year duty was ever going to call him at Michigan, and McGuffie, IMHO, was not what he was cracked up to be and if he were still here probably wouldn't have been first string this year or last year.

I mean that as respectfully as possible, of course. I hold Threet in very high regard for toughing it out in 2008 and I do not blame him at all for heading for somewhere with a better shot at success (and playing time). McGuffie was homesick and couldn't avoid concussions every other week while here, so I can't blame him at all for transfering closer to home and in a league where he was less likely to take beating that was getting to him here. I'll never forget the sandwhich he got returning a kick against MSU. I was near the top row and I could hear that over everyone yelling. Probably the only time I ever excused someone for fumbling, and hopefully the last.

Should really consider quitting football altogether, 3 concussions in one year is serious. If he gets another this year, he should seriously consider hanging up his cleats. I also understand that a 19-20 year old kid doesn't understand that. So hopefully, the year off helped his brain heal and I wish him the best at Rice.